Mississippi
Mississippi High School Football Rankings: Top 25 Teams – September 16
Musical chairs would be an apt description of the top 25 of the Mississippi high school football rankings this week as teams from across the state have shuffled around after an eventful third week of games.
Clinton knocked off then-No. 1 Brandon in a 65-62 thriller. Hattiesburg upset No. 2 Oak Grove, and Madison Central won a top-10 battle with Gulfport.
Below is the updated Mississippi On3 Massey Ratings top 25, as of Sept. 16.
The On3 Massey Ratings — which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 — rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.
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Previous Ranking: No. 3 (+2)
After watching the top two teams in Mississippi fall over the weekend, Starkville bumped up to No. 1 in Mississippi with a 28-15 win over Meridian. The Yellowjackets lost in the state title to Oak Grove last season and are working to get back for another shot at the crown. Starkville will travel to No. 6 Louisville for a top-10 showdown Friday night.
Previous Ranking: No. 1 (-1)
Brandon fell to Clinton in a shootout for the ages last week, losing 65-62 to the Arrows. That dropped the Bulldogs to 2-1 on the season, but they remain No. 2 in Mississippi. Four-star junior cornerback Preston Ashley is the No. 6 junior in the state, per the On3 Industry Ranking, and leads the No. 12 defense in the Magnolia State.
Previous Ranking: No. 4 (+1)
Madison Central moved up a spot after beating then-No. 9 Gulfport 31-21 last Friday. It has been tough matchup after tough matchup for the Jaguars this year. They entered the season with the state’s projected No. 2 strength of schedule and rose to No. 1 after beating Ocean Springs in week one. Central then fell slightly after losing to Brandon. The Jaguars have another ranked game on deck — No. 16 Northwest Rankin — but they are big favorites.
Previous Ranking: No. 5 (+1)
Tupelo remained perfect on the year with a 35-6 win over Hernando. The Golden Wave kick of a string of tough games this week when they take on Oxford — followed by games against No. 19 West Point, No. 4 Madison Central, No. 20 Germantown, No. 9 Clinton and No. 1 Starkville.
Previous Ranking: No. 2 (-3)
Oak Grove dropped its first game of the season when it fell 27-21 to Hattiesburg. The Warriors were the preseason No. 1 team in Mississippi despite losing championship-winning quarterback and now Ole Miss freshman AJ Maddox. Maddox’s brother, Ole Miss four-star commit Andrew Maddox, stars along the defensive line on a top-10 defense. Oak Grove will head on the road this week to No. 15 Madison-Ridgeland Academy.
Previous Ranking: No. 6
Louisville handled Columbus with ease 50-13 last week to improve to 3-0 on the season. The Wildcats previously snuck by West Point and shut out Neshoba Central. Louisville made history last season by going a perfect 15-0, winning its 12th state championship, tying a state record for the most titles of any school. As the ‘Cats look for a repeat, that difficult road forward starts this week with No. 1 Starkville.
Previous Ranking: No. 12 (+5)
Hattiesburg pulled off one of the upsets of the week by knocking off No. 2 Oak Grove 27-21. It beat Petal in week one and Laurel in week two before the Tigers met up with Oak Grove. Hattiesburg is led by top-50 junior wide receiver Tristen Keys and Arkansas defensive line commit Kevin Oatis. Next on the schedule is a road game against unranked Biloxi.
Previous Ranking: No. 8
Grenada beat a previously ranked Oxford last week by a 41-22 score. The Chargers’ lone loss on the season came 38-24 to Oak Grove. Grenada now has the No. 16 offense and No. 8 defense in the state of Mississippi. The Chargers will play No. 9 Clinton this week in another top-10 clash.
Previous Ranking: No. 17 (+8)
Clinton pulled off the biggest upset of the week, beating No. 1 Brandon 65-62. But the Arrows don’t get a moment of rest — this week, they are up against No. 8 Grenada. Clinton is 2-1 this season, its only loss coming 35-34 to Northwest Rankin.
Previous Ranking: No. 14 (+4)
Hartfield splattered Presbyterian Christian School 71-0 last week in one of the largest point spreads in the country. The Hawks are undefeated this season and have won their last three games by a combined 169-0. They will look to continue that shutout streak this week as big favorites over Starkville Academy. Junior safety Bralan Womack is a top-30 player in the nation, while defensive linemen London Simmons and Reginald Vaughn are committed to Alabama and Arkansas, respectively.
11. West Jones (-4)
12. Warren Central (+6)
13. Picayune Memorial (-3)
14. Jackson Prep (+5)
15. Madison-Ridgeland Academy
16. Northwest Rankin (+7)
17. South Panola (-4)
18. Gulfport (-9)
19. West Point (+5)
20. Germantown (-9)
21. Petal (NR)
22. Ocean Springs (-6)
23. D’Iberville (-3)
24. Brookhaven (NR)
25. DeSoto Central (NR)
Dropped from rankings: Pearl, Oxford, Poplarville
Mississippi
Snap Counts from Mizzou at Mississippi State, Season Tracker
The Missouri offense was on the field for over two thirds of the No. 23-ranked Tigers’ victory over Mississippi State in Week 13, possessing the ball for 41 minutes and 51 seconds.
The Missouri offense played 79 snaps in the win, tying its previous high in snaps in SEC play from when the Tigers won over Vanderbilt in double overtime.
The full snap counts for both sides of the ball for Missouri revealed some interesting lineup moves. Here’s the full counts found on Pro Football Focus.
Offense
LG Cayden Green, 79, 100%
RT Armand Membou, 79, 100%
C Drake Heismeyer, 79, 100%
QB Brady Cook, 79, 100%
LT Marcus Bryant, 79, 100%
RG Cam’Ron Johnson, 79, 100%
TE Jordon Harris, 57, 72%
TE Brett Norfleet, 53, 67%
WR Joshua Manning, 49, 62%
WR Theo Wease Jr., 45, 57%
WR Luther Burden III, 38, 48%
HB Nate Noel, 37, 47%
WR Marquis Johnson, 33, 42%
WR Mekhi Miller, 26, 33%
HB Marcus Carroll, 21, 27%
HB Jamal Roberts, 20, 25%
LG Mitchell Walters, 9, 11%
WR Daniel Blood, 5, 6%
HB Kewan Lacy, 1, 1%
TE Tyler Stephens, 1, 1%
• Interesting to see Joshua Mannig get more snaps than any other wide receiver. The coaching staff have praised his run blocking ability before though, which was what he did on 35 of his snaps.
• Pretty impressive for Marcus Carroll to score three touchdowns while only playing 27% of snaps
Defense
CB Dreyden Norwood, 50, 100%
S Daylan Carnell, 47, 94%
LB Triston Newson, 45, 90%
S Joseph Charleston, 43, 86%
CB Toriano Pride Jr., 41, 82%
ED Johnny Walker Jr., 40, 80%
ED Zion Young, 35, 70%
LB Corey Flagg, 33, 66%
DL Kristian Williams, 33, 66%
S Caleb Flagg, 27, 54%
DL Chris McClellan, 27, 54%
DL Sterling Webb, 27, 54%
S Marvin Burks Jr., 23, 46%
LB Chuck Hicks, 22, 44%
DL Eddie Kelly Jr., 17, 34%
CB Nicholas Deloach Jr., 15, 30%
ED Jahkai Lang, 12, 24%
S Tre’Vez Johnson, 11, 22%
DL Marquis Gracial, 8, 16%
DL Jalen Marshall, 7, 14%
S Sidney Williams, 7, 14%
LB Nicholas Rodriguez, 2, 4%
• Nicholas Deloach Jr. was the more relied upon corner opposite of Dreydon Norwood for each of the past two games, but Toriano Pride Jr. stepped back into that role in this one.
• With Tre’Vez Johnson dealing with some sort of injury, Caleb Flagg saw some more playing time at safety.
Offense
LT Marcus Bryant, 764, 100%
RT Armand Membou, 756, 99%
RG Cam’Ron Johnson, 679, 89%
LG Cayden Green, 673, 88%
QB Brady Cook, 602, 79%
C Connor Tollison, 582, 76%
WR Theo Wease Jr., 566, 74%
WR Luther Burden III, 492, 64%
TE Brett Norfleet, 359, 47%
TE Jordon Harris, 331, 43%
WR Joshua Manning, 329, 43%
WR Mookie Cooper, 328, 43%
HB Nate Noel, 323, 42%
WR Mekhi Miller, 313, 41%
G Mitchell Walters, 265, 34%
HB Marcus Carroll, 239, 31%
C Drake Heismeyer, 232, 30%
WR Marquis Johnson, 223, 29%
QB Drew Pyne, 217, 28%
HB Jamal Roberts, 193, 25%
TE Tyler Stephens, 126, 17%
WR Daniel Blood, 119, 16%
T Jayven Richardson, 57, 7%
G Logan Reichert, 56, 7%
G Tristan Wilson, 49, 6%
HB Kewan Lacy, 43, 5%
G Curtis Peagler, 26, 3%
HB Tavorus Jones, 24, 3%
TE Jude James, 21, 3%
WR James Madison II, 13, 2%
WR Courtney Crutchfield, 10, 1%
WR Logan Muckey, 8, 1%
C Talan Chandler, 7, 1%
TE Whit Hafer, 3, 0%
QB JR Blood, 2, 0%
Defense
CB Dreyden Norwood, 517, 79%
S Marvin Burks Jr., 475, 73%
S Daylan Carnell, 465, 71%
ED Johnny Walker Jr., 445, 68%
CB Toriano Pride Jr., 438, 67%
DL Kristian Williams, 401, 61%
ED Zion Young, 397, 61%
S Joseph Charleston, 384, 59%
LB Triston Newson, 380, 58%
DL Chris McClellan, 370, 57%
LB Corey Flagg, 345, 53%
CB Nicholas Deloach Jr., 313, 48%
S Tre’Vez Johnson, 269, 41%
LB Chuck Hicks, 258, 39%
DL Sterling Webb, 236, 36%
S Sidney Williams, 236, 36%
DL Eddie Kelly Jr., 223, 34%
LB Khalil Jacobs, 223, 34%
ED Jahkai Lang, 185, 28%
DL Marquis Gracial, 139, 21%
S Caleb Flagg, 124, 19%
DL Jalen Marshall, 114, 17%
ED Joe Moore, 105, 16%
LB Nicholas Rodriguez, 103, 16%
DL Sam Williams, 49, 8%
CB Marcus Clarke, 44, 7%
ED Williams Nwaneri, 38, 6%
S Jaylen Brown, 37, 6%
S Trajen Greco, 36, 6%
DB Shamar McNeil, 32, 5%
LB Jeremiah Beasley, 28, 4%
DB Phillip Roche, 24, 4%
DB Ja’Marion Wayne, 22, 3%
DL Elias Williams, 11, 2%
LB Brayshawn Littlejohn, 11, 2%
LB Brian Huff, 8, 1%
CB Jaren Sensabaugh, 6, 1%
CB Justin Bodford, 6, 1%
CB Cameron Keys, 6, 1%
CB Nasir Pogue, 6, 1%
LB Brady Hultman, 2, 0%
LB Will Norris, 1, 0%
Mississippi
Mississippi blows opportunity at making the College Football Playoff with Florida loss
How coaches salaries and the NIL bill affects college football
Dan Wolken breaks down the annual college football coaches compensation package to discuss salaries and how the NIL bill affects them.
Sports Pulse
Anyone pushing for Mississippi to be in the College Football Playoff at this point is either on the payroll of the Southeastern Conference or wants to be at some point in the future.
That’s the truth, as plain and simple as it can be after the Rebels choked away the best opportunity in the history of their program Saturday, losing 24-17 at Florida.
No SEC championship game.
No playoff.
No nothin’, other than a New Year’s trip to Orlando or some such place that will force everyone in the program to pretend they’re honored and happy to be there.
And given the vaunted name, image and likeness payroll Lane Kiffin had to work with this year, it’s nothing less than a massive program-wide choke job. You want to play with the big boys after all these years? Fine, go ahead.
But you better take care of business. Instead, Ole Miss messed around and put together one of the most disappointing and confounding seasons they’ve ever had.
With all the hype, all the talent, all the momentum behind Kiffin after they dominated Georgia two weeks ago, are you really going to tell me the Rebels couldn’t do better than 5-for-18 on third and fourth down against a Florida team left for dead weeks ago?
We can break down all the mistakes Ole Miss made in this game from Kiffin’s hard-headedness in handing the ball to defensive tackle JJ Pegues in short yardage to a missed 34-yard field goal to a muffed punt return that handed Florida three points to quarterback Jaxson Dart refusing to tighten his chin strap. There are a lot of things Kiffin will regret.
But the bottom line is pretty straightforward. No team with losses to Florida, LSU and Kentucky should be within a mile of the playoff. And the worst part for Kiffin is that it was so avoidable.
Yeah, the SEC is tough. So what? We’re in a new era here with the 12-team playoff. In a league like the SEC, you can survive losses, especially if you also have good wins.
There has to be a limit, though. Three is just too many.
Florida’s playing well toward the end of the season, but a real playoff team goes into Gainesville and handles a Florida team that just got its sixth win.
LSU is a big brand name with lots of talent, but the Tigers are 6-4 and just not very good.
Kentucky almost certainly isn’t going to a bowl game.
Had any of those three games gone the other way, it would have almost certainly put Ole Miss in the 12-team field. The Georgia win was that valuable, and beating South Carolina 27-3 is one of the more underrated great performances of the season given how good the Gamecocks have been otherwise.
And at some point, there will be a three-loss team in the expanded playoff. Maybe even this year.
But it shouldn’t be Ole Miss. It can’t be Ole Miss, not when those losses all occurred to average or worse opponents.
You have to point the finger at Kiffin. Yes, he’s elevated the Rebels’ program significantly. But for years, his record in the really important games that define seasons has been questionable. After the Georgia win, that narrative was starting to turn. If Ole Miss had simply beaten Florida and Mississippi State, it would have all but locked up its spot. And Kiffin would have been arguably the most important figure in the modern history of Ole Miss football.
Maybe he will be one day. But it’s not going to be this year.
For Ole Miss to implode and miss the playoff with such a stacked roster, and when most of the hard work had been done, is a crushing disappointment.
It’s also a gift to the likes of Indiana and Tennessee. The manner in which the Hoosiers were beaten 38-15 by Ohio State certainly frames their resurgence a bit differently. They didn’t look the part at all and will end the season without any standout wins. But assuming they beat 1-10 Purdue next week, there’s little chance the committee can drop them below Ole Miss.
The Vols also stand to benefit from the developments in Gainesville. The first team out this week, according to the committee, they are in much better position heading into next Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt.
SEC homers will undoubtedly argue that both the Vols and Rebels should be in. Already this week, commissioner Greg Sankey was on social media sharing some strength of schedule data as he begins his public lobbying effort to stack the bracket with SEC teams.
And while the SEC is probably the best and deepest conference, you’d have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to conclude that the parity we’ve seen is evidence that it’s stacked with great teams. What’s closer to the truth is that the SEC has several pretty good, but deeply flawed teams, whose inconsistencies tend to show up on the road.
The SEC will spend the next couple weeks claiming that the league’s depth means all of them should be in the playoff. The committee shouldn’t — and won’t — fall for it. Sorry, Ole Miss. But you’re out.
Mississippi
What channel is Mississippi State football vs Missouri on today? Time, TV schedule to watch Week 13 game
Mississippi State football comes off a bye week with a chance to earn a win over nationally-ranked Missouri on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (2-8, 0-6) last played on Nov. 9 in a loss at Tennessee and have two more games against SEC opponents this year.
The Tigers (7-3, 3-3) lost a back-and-forth game at South Carolina last weekend.
Here’s how to watch the Mississippi State football vs. Missouri game today, including time, TV schedule and streaming information:
Mississippi State vs. Missouri will broadcast nationally on SEC Network in Week 13 of the 2024 college football season. Taylor Zarzour and Matt Stinchcomb will call the game from the booth at Davis Wade Stadium, with Alyssa Lang reporting from the sidelines. Streaming options for the game include FUBO, which offers a free trial to new subscribers.
- Date: Saturday, Nov. 23
- Start time: 3:15 p.m. CT
The Mississippi State football vs. Missouri game starts at 3:15 p.m. CT Saturday from Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville.
Clarion Ledger reporter Sam Sklar’s prediction: Missouri 37, Mississippi State 20
The Bulldogs are allowing 41 points per game in SEC play, and it’s difficult to see Missouri not having the same level of success. Expect big days from Burden and/or Wease, plus running back Nate Noel as MSU loses another game by double digits.
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Friday, Nov. 22
- Odds: Missouri -7.5
- O/U: 61.5 points
- Money line: Missouri -300, Mississippi State +240
- Aug. 31: EKU, W 56-7
- Sept. 7: at Arizona State, L 30-23
- Sept. 14: Toledo, L 41-17
- Sept. 21: Florida, L 45-28
- Sept. 28: at Texas, L 35-13
- Oct. 5: OPEN DATE
- Oct. 12: at Georgia, L 41-31
- Oct. 19: Texas A&M, L 34-24
- Oct. 26: Arkansas, L 58-25
- Nov. 2: UMass, W 45-20
- Nov. 9: at Tennessee, L 33-14
- Nov. 16: OPEN DATE
- Nov. 23: Missouri, 3:15 p.m. on SEC Network
- Nov. 29: at Ole Miss, 2:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+
Record: 2-8 (0-6 SEC)
- Aug. 29: Murray State, W 51-0
- Sept. 7: Buffalo, W 38-0
- Sept. 14: Boston College, W 27-21
- Sept. 21: Vanderbilt, W 30-27 2OT
- Sept. 28: OPEN DATE
- Oct. 5: at Texas A&M, L 41-10
- Oct. 12: at UMass, W 45-3
- Oct. 19: Auburn, W 21-17
- Oct. 26: at Alabama, L 34-0
- Nov. 2: OPEN DATE
- Nov. 9: Oklahoma, W 30-23
- Nov. 16: at South Carolina, L 34-30
- Nov. 23: at Mississippi State, 4:15 p.m. on SEC Network
- Nov. 30: Arkansas, TBD
Record: 7-3, 3-3 SEC
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